Back in '75 mom and I were on our way to Dauphin Island for some rafting in the waves and blue water at the beach (the water is muddy and calm at home on MS Gulf Coast). We'd occasionally get a bump on the leg, figured it was just us kids kicking around (lotta feet under the raft - big green military surplus raft), or maybe one of the adults trying to mess with us. First trip of the year in '75 we were on the bridge and a fellow had pulled in a baby shark. I still remember clear as anything. My mom remarked, "Where there are babies, there's a momma." It was a perfect little great white. No mistaking it. Anyway, we went on and had our fun. The reason I remember it so well is because later that same summer we saw "Jaws" and all those memories were suddenly amplified. I mean, blues and hammerheads, bulls we were familiar with from fishing rodeos, but a great white? Nah. Not there! Well, our rafting trips to Dauphin Island beach ended abruptly. People are always amazed at sightings. "They're not supposed to be there." Did anyone tell THEM that?

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"The skipper should be the calmest person on board. It is good for the morale of those around you. However, if everyone around you is frightened then be aware of the possibility that they know something you donít."

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The number of Great Whites off the coast of SA is incredible. There is one island that is home to thousands of seals and it attracts hundreds of GWs. Remarkably it is less than half a mile off a major beach and there has never been a shark attack. Maybe they don't like the taste and prefer seal.

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Heading back to Lake Ontario for this summer. Relatively few stops along the way from Grenada. Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Martin (must have something to do with the French food), then Bermuda, New England and up the Hudson/Erie Canal. We were going to go via Newfoundland and Labrador but June remembered that one of the kids is getting married this summer - details, details!

To judge by the number of people attacked who survive with only a bite.. they must not like the taste of people.

That may be part of it. Bit I've always thought that the "humans naturally taste bad" notion is pretty much unproven, and mostly just wishful thinking. Although, humans do probably taste different, and leaner, from most marine mammals.

Taking one bite and backing off is actually part of the feeding behavior of Great Whites when attacking seal and sea lions. They bite, back off a bit, and let their prey bleed out. Many of the marine mammals they eat are as big or bigger than the average GW, so there is a very real possibility of the shark getting injured while its "dinner" is thrashing about. Humans, unlike most GW prey, tend to get out of the water and/or get help from other humans as soon as they are hit. This is probably what leads to our relatively high survival rate in such interactions.

Back in my Ute, digging clams for a living, I would often see large shark fins, at 4-5 am, WAY up inside Great South Bay.. in the canals. The reality is that sharks go wherever the H they want and can be found just about anywhere.

While the great white shark gets most of the publicity, in reality, the most dangerous shark is the bull shark. It's far more aggressive than the great white, travels up to 600 miles into freshwater find find food and is responsible for far more fatal attacks on people than the GW. Ironically, a fish species inflicts far more serious injuries on people than all the shark species combined - bluefish. You'll find all this information in a book entitled "Dangerous Marine Animals."

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